Police said the deceased, Srinivas (21), a resident of Vijayanagar and Anthony John (22), a resident of Chamarajpet, had accompanied nine others for the picnic. They had left on Sunday morning.
At the picnic spot, they noticed a military camp on the other side of the river flowing to the tank. Curious, they wanted to get closer and have a better look.
Seven of the friends reached there by car, while Srinivas, Anthony, Shankar and Shyam decided to walk through the river. But Srinivas and Anthony could go no further and were stuck in the deep waters. Unable to return, they drowned, according to the police.
Shankar and Shyam returned to the bank, the Tavarekere police said. Further investigations are in progress.
Houses flooded
Sunday night’s rain led to flooding in many localities in the City. Around 10 houses were flooded in Kempe Gowda Nagar, Chickpet and Chiklalbagh areas, where there are no storm water drains. The Palike staff attended to the complaints received over phone in the night itself. Several roads including VV Puram junction too were flooded. However, there were no complaints of tree falls or wall collapse.
In Kempe Gowda Nagar, cement blocks placed in certain storm water drains forced the rain water into many houses.
The residents had to spend the entire night outside, and later clearing the rain water. The cement blocks were kept to temporarily block the storm waters at a construction site, said residents.
It rains woes!
Even light rains create major havoc at KR Market. The pavements in the market premises were filled with rainwater on Monday due to rains in the last two days. Vegetable growers had to struggle hard to safeguard vegetables.
“Forget heavy rains, even the light and moderate rain affect the vegetable merchants very badly. We can’t walk on the pavements. Unloading vegetables is a herculean task,” said R V Gopi of Vegetable Sellers’ Association.
He alleged that absence of drainage system in the market was major reason for mess in the market during rains. “Water collected in the market area has no way to go out. Despite repeated demands the Palike has not taken up drainage work,” he said.
GIRL DROWNS IN DRUM
A three-year-old girl slipped and drowned in a drum of water at Kondappa Layout, in Yelahanka, on Sunday.
Dhanalakshmi was living with her parents on the second floor of a three-storeyed building. Her father, Manjunath, had gone out for work. It was learnt some construction work was on in the building, for which some drums had been filled with water.
While playing, Dhanalakshmi went to the third floor and saw one of the drums. When she tried to peep inside, she fell into it and drowned. The workers, however, did not notice the incident.
They found her only when they went to fetch water from the drum.